Latvia to shut commission on Soviet 'occupation' to save
money

12.06.2009

RIGA, June 12 (RIA Novosti) - Latvia has decided for
financial reasons to suspend the work of its commission to
calculate the damage from the Soviet "occupation," a government
spokesman said on Friday.

The decision was taken at an extraordinary government
session on Thursday evening, with the country saving several
hundred thousand U.S. dollars by suspending the work of the
commission from August 1.

Latvia has been one of the hardest hit of all EU states by
the global financial crisis. The former Soviet republic's
government resigned in February after a wave of street protests
against a planned increase in VAT and other unpopular measures
to help the budget meet EU commitments.

The commission issued a report in April putting the total
damage from its Soviet past at $200 billion. Experts used
economic performance indicators in Finland, Denmark and the
United States from 1950-1990 to assist in calculating the
country's potential GDP growth if it had never been part of the
Soviet Union.

Although it is hard to accurately assess the economic
growth Latvia would have enjoyed if it had not been part of the
Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991, the authors of the report
claimed the Soviet "occupation" had demographic, social,
economic and moral consequences.

Andrei Klementyev, a member of the Latvian parliament's
presidium, had pushed for the commission to be shut down for
both economic and diplomatic reasons, pointing out that it
received around $400,000 a year in government funding and
harmed relations with Russia.

"At a time when relations between Latvia and Russia are
beginning to improve these radical statements emerge. And they
of course have a negative impact on our relations," he said.